Nineteen
by FirelightFlower
Summary: [NaruSaku] Oneshot, songfic. As Sakura stands at Sasuke's grave, she comes to terms with who she has become, and what his 'Thank you' meant, and decides to thank Naruto by cryptically confessing her own feelings for him. Rated T to be safe. XD


**A/N:** Hey there! This is my first ever songfic, so I'm hoping like hell I don't screw it up! Now, I don't know exactly how many of you have heard of the song _'Nineteen'_ by Tegan & Sara, but it's my favorite of their new album, and I was inspired to write a oneshot songfic for it with one of my Top 5 favorite pairings from Naturo: Naruto and Sakura.

I feel this song is about being so in love with someone that you hardly even notice it. As if they were there all along, always beside you, and you're just realizing for the first time that you love them with such intensity, all while wondering if it's too late to tell them.

Also, this takes place two years after Naruto returns with Jiraiya to Konoha, making everyone two years older, meaning Sakura and Naruto are now seventeen.

One more thing: I suggest you listen to the song while reading the story! I find it makes a significant difference in the way one grasps the story to listen to the song it was purposely written for.

So... onto the story! XD

**Key** - _Flashbacks & recollections_, regular speech & story, _thoughts_, and **song lyrics**.

**Disclaimer:** I - most unfortunately - do not own Naruto. The high honor belongs to the one and only Kishimoto-sensei. I also don't own the song _'Nineteen'_ by the fabulous Tegan & Sara.

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**'Nineteen'**

_'Thank you.'_  
  
Thank you. Those were the only two words he deigned leave her with. Maybe that was all the sentiment he could muster up and form into words; maybe that was all he could offer her then. She - Sakura Haruno - however, was not satisfied with those two measly words. Thank you for what exactly? Thoughts and possibilities of what the two words that he - Sasuke Uchiha - had left her with taunted her day and night, always pondering of where she went wrong, why she couldn't make him stay.  
**  
I felt you in my legs  
Before I even met you**

Even now, as Sakura stood at the grave of her beloved Sasuke-kun, her mind drifted back to those two words. _'Thank you... what the fuck does that even mean, coming from him? Thank you for what?! I was so weak back then, always relying on him to protect me... him, and Naruto.'_ She sighed, wrapping her arms around herself as the wind and drizzling rain whipped at her slender, black-clad figure.

**And when I laid beside you  
For the first time  
I told you**

_'Naruto...'_ Silent tears escaped from Sakura's jade eyes and slid down her porcelain-like cheeks as thought of the blonde-haired shinobi, her fingers absent-mindedly twirling a strand of her own bubblegum pink locks in the process.

_"Sakura-chan!" The blonde called to her, his cerulean blue orbs boring into her own jade ones. "Sakura-chan, I promise to bring back Sasuke, the promise of a life time!"_Sakura chuckled, recalling the very day Naruto had sworn to her that he would collect Sasuke and return him to her. He had made that promise knowing that he was endangering his own life; despite that, she also knew he made that promise selfishly, for she was fully aware that if she were happy to have Sasuke back, just seeing her in a state of euphoria would make Naruto happy. She expected him to keep this promise, she knew he was oh-so determined to always keep his word. What Sakura did not brace herself for was the possibility that Naruto might have had to bring Sasuke back as a lifeless corpse; that had been the case._"I'm so sorry, Sakura-chan," Naruto huffed as Sakura halted in front of his resting place against the gates leading into Konoha Village. "I fought for him; I fought to keep my promise to you."__Sakura shook her head, tears pouring down her countenance. "It's okay, Naruto... we have him back now. And we have you back, too, and that's all that matters now."_  
_'He did it for my happiness… because I make him happy. And still, he has never left. Even now, he stands mere yards behind me, allowing me my privacy, believing it will make me happy to say good-bye to Sasuke-kun privately. The baka.'_ This was true: Naruto stood about six yards behind her, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his black pants, and tears made their way down his face as well. He was bruised in various places, and a particularly nasty gash called the space above his left eyebrow 'home.' These battle scars were the result of the struggle to keep his promise to Sakura... to bring Sasuke back, even when his own life was threatened.

**Now we're saying  
Bye, bye, bye  
Now we're saying  
Bye, bye, bye  
**  
"The fool," Sakura whispered to herself softly. "Staying behind, hanging back away from the rest of the funeral party… even after all those years of treating him like complete crap, he decides to stay with me. Staying with me, to support me, to tell me it will all be… okay!" Her eyes widened; something was clicking into place. Something was finally fitting into place, as if the last piece of a puzzle had been found and placed with the rest, making it whole… completing it.

_"Thank you."_

**I was nineteen  
(Call me?)  
I was nineteen  
(Call me?)**

She understood it all fully now, why Sasuke had left her with just a simple 'thank you'. "You're welcome, Sasuke-kun," she whispered softly. "And thank you, too," she added as a smile began to creep into her features for the first time in a long while, from what she could remember. "For making me see what was there in front of me all along, for allowing me to see the sacrifice he made to bring you back... for making me understand an appreciate, so I could deserve him."**I felt you in my life**

Before I ever thought to  
Felt the need to lay down  
Beside you  
And tell you

"Naruto," Sakura addressed him, not turning to look at him. "Why are you standing all the way back there?" She could sense he was somewhat stunned by her question.

"Sakura-chan, I wish to give you the privacy you need," was the Kyuubi container's response. Sakura could hear him softly shifting his weight from one foot to the other, something he often did when he was nervous or anxious.

Taking a deep breath and bracing herself, Sakura turned her body to face Naruto, mud and earth squishing as she did so. She forced her jade, tear-brimmed eyes to look into his azure orbs; for some time, she just stared at him. Finally, she mustered up enough will-power to say, "Privacy is not what I need right now."

**I feel you in my heart  
And I don't even know you  
And now we're saying  
Bye, bye, bye  
Now we're saying  
Bye, bye, bye**

From the look on his face, Sakura had guessed her words stunned him, but most certainly not nearly as much as they stunned her. _'What do I mean, "Privacy is not what I need right now"?' _

"

A gasp issued from Sakura's lips. _'I get it now, Sasuke-kun; I understand what I need right now_.'

Almost as if he had read her mind, Naruto asked her, "Ne, S-Sakura-chan? What is it that you do need right now?" Sakura watched as he cocked his head to the side, his face filled with so much curiosity; she even thought she saw a faint trace of eagerness in the expression, an eagerness to obtain the very thing she needed at that given moment, even at the drop of a hat.

She smiled. "What I need most is _you_. Up here with me, helping me say good-bye to _our_ teammate, _our_ friend."

**I was nineteen  
(Call me?)  
I was nineteen  
****(Call me?)**

Naruto gasped; Sakura was figuring he was processing her words. "B-but, Sakura-chan," he said, taking a handful of steps to make the gap between them smaller. "You loved Sasuke! You should be saying good-bye to him by yourself; you always called him your true love."

Sakura nodded, agreeing with what he had just said. "Yes, Naruto, I did always say that… when we were younger. And I did love Sasuke-kun – I still do, just not in the romantic way everyone thinks. Not in the way _you_ think, Naruto."

"Sakura-chan… I don't understand." She noticed the faint disbelief his tone of voice carried.

"I don't – nor will I ever – deny that I had romantic feelings towards Sasuke-kun," Sakura began, waving her hand to beckon him closer. He obliged. "But those feelings of romantic love were one-sided; something that I long ago realized would never change, no matter how much I wished it to become true someday. After he left, I grew up, I changed." Sakura and Naruto were now standing side by side, both facing Sasuke's grave.

"I rid myself of those feelings in the time you and Sasuke-kun had left. But I never forgot the promise you made to bring Sasuke-kun home to Konoha, and when you returned after two-and-a-half years, something woke up inside of me, I suppose you could say."

Naruto was silent, and after a moment he asked, "What woke up?"

"The realization that - despite the fact Sasuke-kun had abandoned me – I still had you, as a teammate and as a friend. Sure, you left for those two-and-a-half years, but you didn't completely abandon me."

**Flew home, back to where we met  
Stayed inside, I was so upset  
I cooked up a plan, so good except  
I was all alone  
You were all I had**

The two stood there, silence enveloping them as they both said good-bye to their dear teammate and friend. The silence, however, did not last long, for Naruto chose to break it.

"You know, Sakura-chan," he said with a hint of mild amusement in his voice, "everyone wins."

Sakura was perplexed by the spiky blonde's statement. "N-Naruto?"

"You see," Naruto began to explain, a smile tugging at his lips, "even thought he's left this world, I still brought Sasuke back, which allowed me to keep my promise to you. You got Sasuke back, which was your wish; however, I wish he was still alive, because then you could be standing with him now. And Sasuke, though dead, can still avenge: he can haunt that bastard Itachi, and there's nothing he can do about it."

It took a moment before the words had sunken into Sakura's mind. "Yes, I suppose you're right, Naruto," said she. "Well… for the most part, that is."

**Love you  
You were all mine  
Love me  
I was yours, right?  
I was yours, right?**

"'For the most part'? What do you mean, Sakura-chan?" Naruto turned his head to offering her a look of questioning.

"What I mean is that I don't think I would have chosen to stand with Sasuke-kun, had he survived." And with that, Sakura laced the fingers of her right hand with the fingers of Naruto's left hand and gave it a slight squeeze.

Gasping, Naruto sputtered out, "W-why is th-that, S-S-Sakura-chan?!"

**I was nineteen  
(Call me?)  
I was nineteen  
(Call me?)  
I was nineteen  
(Call me?)**

"Because," said Sakura simply, now smiling at the warmth she felt from Naruto's touch, a warmth she knew no one else could ever give her, not even in a million years. "Just as I said my feelings of love for Sasuke-kun disappeared, feelings of a stronger, deeper, more intense love blossomed for someone else, the kind of love I know that person would give only me… the kind of love I would die without."

With that said, the two once more stood in silence. Understanding and passion siphoned from one to the other, and vice versa. No words were needed any longer to explain.

Finally, Naruto said, "I love you, too, Sakura-chan."

-Fin-


End file.
